Tuesday 19 April 2011

The Plea "a band that is set to ignite the world" Entertainment Focus



"I Am The Miracle is the brand new, stomping single from County Donegal indie brothers Denny and Dermot Doherty, drummer Gerry Strawbridge and bassist Paul Toland or otherwise known as The Plea.

The track, which comes back to back with the b-side Praise Be, is a welcoming introduction to a band that is set to ignite the world of indie with the acts debut record which sees its release later in the year and promises to be every bit the storming package as its first single proves to be.

I Am A Miracle is a fresh and brash indie number with swirling guitars and echoeing vocals that are reminescient of The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft and comes fully equipt with a memorable and anthemic melody as catchy as indie records come. Vocalist Denny has an incredible voice on him as he sways from cool indie rocker on the lead single to wailing rock hero who shares unique vocal similarities with U2's Bono as he unleashes his angst out on Praise Be.

A fine start to a band who are quickly cementing themselves on the commercial radar."

Click here to see the feature on Entertainment Focus!

Become a fan on Facebook here, follow The Plea on Twitter here @thepleaofficial, check out The Plea on MySpace here.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Beverly Knight New Album "Soul UK"



Beverley Knight will be releasing her highly anticipated 7th studio album on July 4th 2011. Entitled ‘Soul UK,’ the album is a celebration of UK soul music - the British songs and artists that inspired Beverley leading up to her own arrival on the UK scene in the mid 90's. It is a personal journey, curated by Beverley and delivered with her own unique soul/gospel style, through some of her all time favorite soulful tracks by British artists. As with her previous album, 2009’s acclaimed Top 20 scoring ‘100%’, ‘Soul UK’ will be released through Beverley’s own label Hurricane Records.

Produced by Grammy winning Martin Terefe (James Morrison, Jason Mraz) and hot London production duo Future Cut (Lilly Allen, Beyonce), ‘Soul UK’ sees Beverley paying respect back to her forebears - and reminding the new generation up and coming just who paved their way. Taking in songs from a range of iconic artists - from Soul II Soul and Loose Ends to Jamiroquai and George Michael, it also includes some of the more 'hidden' gems that make up British soul's highlights of the 80's and 90's, including Princess’s “Say I’m Your Number One” and Lewis Taylor’s “Damn”.

Knight says of the project: “I gave a lot of thought to choosing the songs I wanted to interpret for this album and it was great fun putting my own flavour and twist on tracks by some of the fantastic UK artists who preceded me and inspired me. A lot these artists opened doors for both myself and many others, and many of them are still going strong - so the album is, in part, a thank you to them. The UK is a world-beating producer of musical talent and this genre can sometimes feel overlooked and underplayed. I hope with this album that people can enjoy these songs all over again and in some cases discover them for the first time.”

The first taster from ‘Soul UK’ is a promo-only version of Soul II Soul’s club classic ‘Fairplay’, featuring an intro from Jazzie B himself, which will be serviced to clubs and specialist radio in April. Beverley’s version adds a fierce horn section and she owns it with some awesome one-take vocals. The first commercially available single is a storming take on Junior’s classic, ‘Mama Used To Say’, out June 20th.

Become a fan of Beverly Knight on Facebook here, follow her on Twitter here (@BeverlyKnight), watch videos and subscribe to Beverly's YouTube channel here!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Guilfest 2011 Announce N-Dubz & Ziggy Marley



Award winning family festival GuilFest, now in its 20th year, features a line up more vibrant and eclectic than ever before! Established legends are joined by rising stars as more names are added to the 3 day festival with camping, set in the idyllic grounds of Stoke Park, Guildford. Organisers are delighted to announce the latest additions to this year's line up are N-Dubz and Ziggy Marley, joining already announced legends Razorlight, James Blunt, Erasure, Peter Andre and Public Image Limited.

Returning by popular demand, after providing what without a doubt was one of the highlights of last year’s festival are N-Dubz. Scheduled to play on the main stage on Saturday evening, the trio are sure to provide visitors to this year’s GuilFest with a fantastic show. With over 1.2 milllion albums sold, 100 million views on YouTube, 3 MOBO Awards, two sold out tours, 9 hit singles and even their own major TV series, N – Dubz can quite rightly lay claim to being one of the most successful urban acts ever to emerge from the UK - and collaborations with the likes of Tynchy Stryder, Mr Hudson, Chipmunk, Wiley and Gary Barlow have only helped N-Dubz with their prolific rise to superstardom. GuilFest organisers are delighted to welcome the band back to the Main Stage at GuilFest this July.

Ziggy Marley is confirmed for the Main Stage at GuilFest on Sunday 17th July. The eldest son of reggae legend Bob Marley, Ziggy began his musical career in 1979 as the frontman of Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, releasing eleven incredibly popular albums and earning three Grammy awards. Beginning his solo career in 2003 with ‘Dragonfly’, Ziggy continued his fantastic success and in 2006 won his fourth Grammy for Best Reggae Album, after releasing the critically acclaimed ‘Love is My Religion’. His 2009 album ‘Family Time’ saw Ziggy notch up his fifth Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children and featured collaborative work with Rita Marley, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and Jack Johnson amongst many others. It’s great to have this true reggae icon at GuilFest for the first time this summer, for what is sure to be an amazing show!



The already incredibly eclectic GuilFest line up will continue to grow over the coming months to a massive 200 bands performing across 7 music stages over the 3 days of the festival. As regular visitors will know however, GuilFest is not just about the music and throughout the site there is a plethora of activities and shows to keep you entertained all weekend. Also on the site you will find the eFestivals' Cosmic Comedy Tent, returning with a fantastic line up of side splitting comics, The Man In The Moon Theatre Tent, featuring performances of everything from Burlesque Cabaret to Shakespeare, Ceroc Dance Tent, The 70s Disco, Farmer Giles Barn Dance, Massive 150ft Beer Tent, Art & Craft Village, The Eden People’s GuilFest Gallery, Calypso Cocktail Bar, Street Performers, Food Stalls from around the world, Our amazing Kidzone and brand new for this year, The Vintage Experience!! – All will be revealed very soon!

Remember that the Guildford Spectrum Leisure Centre and Lido are right next door – Bring your swimming togs and cool off by the pool between bands, or simply go for a refreshing shower!

GuilFest – the award winning, quintessential English Family Festival. The perfect place to enjoy 3 sunny days of music, fun and laughter.

Monday 4 April 2011

The Chakras Featured On Hot Press

Home support for The Chakras on Hot Press - click here to see the feature, and watch the well timed fan made video viral below.

"Dublin spiritually-attuned rockers The Chakras have re-swizzled their track 'We The People' for their upcoming debut album and the results are pretty epic! The track, which originally circulated in 2008 has been given a slightly more widescreen sheen, possibly the result of a recent mixing session with renowed producer Chris Potter which recalls not only 'Love is Noise'-era The Verve but other British heavyweights Kasabian and Muse with it's prominent breakbeat and stadium-ready chorus. It's all very exciting and with single and album details coming soon as well as information on summer live dates, expect to hear quite a deal more about this young band here! Until the single release date on May 2, enjoy this viral video of the track."